Action Taken by Governor Phil Scott on Legislation - June 9, 2025

Montpelier, Vt. - Governor Phil Scott announced action on the following bills, passed by the General Assembly.

On June 9, Governor Scott signed bills of the following titles:

• S.53, An act relating to certification of community-based perinatal doulas and Medicaid coverage for doula services
• S.59, An act relating to amendments to Vermont’s Open Meeting Law

When signing S.53, Governor Scott issued the following statement:

“While I support greater access to perinatal care in Vermont, I believe outstanding operational concerns must be addressed before we seek to amend our Medicaid plan to allow Medicaid reimbursement for community-based perinatal doulas. We must ensure that community-based perinatal doula professional certification standards are consistent with federal expectations before Medicaid reimbursement is finalized. If this requires further legislation next year, it’s my hope the Legislature will address this area of concern.”

On June 9, Governor Scott returned without signature and vetoed S.125, An act relating to collective bargaining and sent the following letter to the General Assembly:

Dear Mr. Bloomer:

Pursuant to Chapter II, Section 11 of the Vermont Constitution, I am returning S.125, An act relating to collective bargaining, without my signature because of my objections described herein:

This bill would effectively unionize a group of Judiciary employees with a simple definitional change. I’m concerned that despite unions testifying this was a priority for their organization, employees who would be impacted by this bill were not consulted or asked to testify.

The Judiciary has advised this change could have a negative impact on the effective management of courthouses and fear a workplace marked by divisiveness and angst were this bill to pass. At a time when our court system is managing a significant backlog, we should be focusing on improving efficiencies within the system.

Further, this bill seeks to bolster existing unions by significantly increasing the voting threshold for union decertification. This means it will be much more difficult for employees who do not feel well represented to consider their alternatives.  

I support collective bargaining, but I believe employees should have choices for which union they belong to. This bill seeks to make it harder for employees, if they choose, to seek union representation from other organizations. I believe the threshold to trigger a vote for certification should be the same as decertification.

Our employees should be heard and respected and for this reason I cannot allow this bill to go into law. 

Sincerely,

/s/

Philip B. Scott

Governor

To view a complete list of action on bills passed during the 2025 legislative session, click here.

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